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Pink slime is banned in Europe, it should be banned in the U.S.

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Recently, The Citizens' Voice ran a column from the Los Angeles Times that tried to put a favorable spin on pink slime. What is pink slime? In corporate doublespeak, it is called "lean beef trimmings." It is a mixture of tendons, cartilage, and waste scraps of meat, basically slaughterhouse waste, that is finely ground, heated, spun to remove residual fat, and treated with toxic ammonia gas.

Yum!

The European Union has banned this vile additive in all food intended for human consumption. How much longer must our own children, who receive ground beef that is adulterated with this filth in the school lunch program, be sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed?

Indeed, how much longer must all of us have to worry about our food being dosed with questionable additives in the interest of maximizing corporate profits?

Since ammonia is not a particularly strong germicide, one must wonder how many of the recent spate of food-borne illnesses are the result of pink slime or other unwholesome additives?

Isn't it time to strengthen our pure food and drug laws, without any interference from corporate lobbyists, so that Americans can enjoy the same protection that Europeans have?

The ammonium hydroxide gas in the press releases is actually anhydrous ammonia, which forms ammonium hydroxide when it dissolves in the moisture in the beef trimmings.

The term "ammonium hydroxide" correctly refers to a solution of ammonia gas in water, like that sold in the cleaning products aisle of local supermarkets.

It's fine for cleaning floors and windows. But it doesn't belong in food.

Philip E. Galasso

Shickshinny

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